Peter Dobing, who has died aged 87, played in three finals but will be best remembered as the man who lifted the only major trophy in Stoke City’s history.

Although Stoke possessed a fine side, they were not expected to win the 1972 League Cup final. Their run to Wembley had been tortuous. They had been drawn away in every round and required two replays to overcome Manchester United and four matches – a two-legged semi-final plus two replays – to see off West Ham United.

In the final on March 4 they would face Chelsea, who in the previous two seasons had won the FA Cup and the European Cup-Winners’ Cup and, with players such as Peter Osgood and Alan Hudson, epitomised the glamour of the King’s Road.

Whereas Dobing seemed to come from another age. His hair was clipped short and he would come to training in a suit and tie; the suit was usually tweed. There would usually be a pipe clenched between his teeth.

He was, however, an incisive passer of the ball, and while another veteran, the 35-year-old George Eastham, scored the winning goal at Wembley, Dobing, two years younger, displayed the trophy to those who had flocked from the Potteries.

Peter Dobing was born in Manchester on December 1 1938. His father, George, played rugby league for Salford, but after his retirement the family moved to Crewe, where George ran a hotel. Peter, however, preferred football and cricket, playing for Lancashire Second XI. His brother, Brian, played in goal for Crewe Alexandra.

Peter Dobing was signed by Blackburn Rovers as a forward, putting four past Bristol City in March 1958 as the club won promotion to the First Division. By the age of 22 he had scored 200 goals for Blackburn, five of which came in their run to the 1960 FA Cup final, where they were beaten 3-0 by Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The following year, he was signed by Manchester City to replace Denis Law, who had left Maine Road for Torino. In the wake of City’s relegation in 1963, George Dobing phoned Tony Waddington, the manager of newly promoted Stoke, informing him his son was available. He was signed for a club-record fee of £38,000.

His new manager, however, wanted to play him as an inside-right rather than a striker. Waddington famously described football as “the working man’s ballet”, and Dobing became one of his principal dancers. His acceleration surprised opponents, but he could mix it when required, once incurring a nine-week ban for accumulated bookings. Since he had a broken leg at the time, the suspension was notional.

Stoke reached the 1964 League Cup final, which was then played home and away over two legs. But for Dobing hitting the post and the brilliance of Gordon Banks in the Leicester City goal, Stoke might have settled the tie at their own Victoria Ground. But Leicester’s 3-2 victory in the second leg proved decisive.

In August 1967, Dobing threatened not only to walk out of the club but to quit football, a sport he was never wholly in love with. Manchester United, the league champions who would become champions of Europe nine months later, wanted to take him to Old Trafford. When Stoke turned the offer down, Dobing refused to play against Manchester City – although Waddington recalled: “He did telephone us from Crewe an hour before the game, saying that if we were stuck for players, he would turn up.”

He was not needed. Stoke won, 3-0. The split was healed partly by the club promising him a testimonial in 1973 to mark 10 years’ service. But as Dobing recalled: “When the time came, Stoke simply told me they could not afford it.”

That year a second broken leg forced his retirement. Dobing, who had married Judy Atkinson in 1962, ran his own pottery business, selling crockery to hotels and restaurants. It allowed him to concentrate on his first sporting love, fishing. As a player he would fish for trout around Market Drayton, while retirement allowed him to go further afield for salmon.

As Terry Conroy, part of Stoke’s cup-winning side, reflected: “His passion for life was fishing. If we went out for a few beers, Peter would go home to watch a programme about fishing or read a book about it. He thought himself a good footballer but a better fisherman.”